“I just need to know”: why consistency beats speed

Her words, recorded in The Journey to Service Excellence, belong above every service desk in higher education: “I don't care whether it's one week or three weeks, I just need to know so that I can provide enough notice to be able to plan for its arrival.”

It is not the delay that frustrates people. It is the inconsistency. Predictability is the primary objective of service management, and it is routinely sacrificed on the altar of average response times.

Every IT and Estates team feels the pull to be fast. But a researcher waiting on a new workstation, a lab refit, an access permission or a costing does not, in most cases, need it today. They need a date they can trust and plan around. A repair promised in one week and still open in week three has done more damage than one honestly quoted at three weeks and delivered on time. The first breaks a plan. The second lets the plan be made.

The stakes are bigger than most leaders realise, and they translate directly to institutions that compete for students, staff and research income. Research cited in the book found that only 1 per cent of consumers feel their expectations are always met. Some 89 per cent stop doing business with a company after a single bad experience, and it takes around twelve positive experiences to compensate for one negative one. A researcher let down once on a promise will remember it through the next recruitment round, the next survey, and the next decision about where to take their grant.

What does designed-in consistency look like? The book points to First Direct, the banking arm of HSBC. It decided that telephone banking was too emotive to leave to chance, did away with automated call handling, and employed enough skilled agents to answer almost every call within about five seconds, around the clock, all year. The agent who answers stays with you until the matter is resolved. No transfers, no scripts, no queue music. The result has been years of awards and a permanent place at the top of the satisfaction charts.

Most university teams cannot staff like First Direct, and do not need to. The lesson transfers at any budget. Decide the level of service you can deliver every single time, promise that, and keep the promise. Under-promise and over-deliver. If your standard turnaround for an access request is five working days and you can hit it reliably, publish five days and hit it, rather than promising two and missing it half the time.

The instinct to advertise your fastest possible time is understandable and almost always wrong. Speed impresses once. When the part arrives early, the researcher is pleasantly surprised. When it arrives late against a bold promise, they are already looking elsewhere and telling colleagues why. Consistency, not speed, is what builds the relationship, and the relationship is what keeps the researcher, the student and the reputation.

How predictable is your service? Compare your practice with peers on the Service Management Exchange, the community built around the journey to service excellence. Join the Exchange at https://exchange.esm.institute/register.